


Who Says Love Should Break Us When We Fall

by semperpugnandi



Series: We're Cinders and Shadows, But We're Also the Sun [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Korrasami - Freeform, Korrasami College AU, Korrasami Modern AU, Pining!Asami, Soccer!Korra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 01:52:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11544963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semperpugnandi/pseuds/semperpugnandi
Summary: When Asami is paired with her ex's brother for the biggest project of her college career, the last thing she expected was him trying to set her up with their test subject. But, spirits, did she fall for it.Or, the one where Asami pines after Korra as Korra tries to figure out if she's even worth Asami's time.





	Who Says Love Should Break Us When We Fall

**Author's Note:**

> *The title is from the song Let It All Go
> 
>  
> 
> *Coughs nervously* Uh, this is my first attempt at Korrasami, I don't know what I'm doing, and this isn't beta-ed so *throws this at you and runs tf away*

“Tell me again why I’m trusting you on this?”

Bolin feigned offense, holding his hand to his chest as he turned to face Asami.

“I’m hurt. I truly am,” he started, pouting. “After everything I’ve done for you. After everything I’ve sacrificed.”

Asami chuckled against her will and shook her head. “Okay, okay,” she submitted, throwing her hands up in defeat. “If you say you have a test subject for me, then I’ll blindly trust you up until the point I meet her.”

Bolin shot her an unsatisfied glare as he once again began leading Asami through the crowd to the stands, weaving in and out of the waves of people. Upon seeing two seats free in the middle of the section they were passing, Bolin’s hand shot out and yanked Asami towards the row, eager to get there before anyone else. Asami found herself apologizing to all the people they near trampled on their way.

When the seats were officially taken by the pair, Asami sat with relief. But Bolin refused to sit as a voice came over the loudspeaker.

“Ladies and gentlemen! Stomp your feet for Republic City University’s own undefeated Fire Ferrets!”

The rest of the crowd joined Bolin in standing and cheering mindlessly. Asami observed from her seat, a mixture of being amused and annoyed. She had never gotten into her school’s athletic spirit, not seeing the point. She was here to get her degrees and leave.

At least Bolin seemed to be enjoying himself, she observed with a slight smirk as her project partner began jumping and screaming to RCU’s fight song. Everyone around her seemed to know the words, so Asami zoned out, looking over all the people standing around her at the jumbotron near the edge of the stadium. The screen currently scanned the women athletes as they warmed up. Even though she wasn’t involved with RCU’s athletics, it was kind of hard to miss all the hype about their women’s soccer team. She watched intrigued as the team slated to win nationals worked flawlessly through warm ups.

Once the game was well on its way, and Bolin and the rest of the crowd finally sat back down, Asami leaned over to her company. “Alright, now which one is my test subject?” she asked, more interested in their project than the game Bolin insisted on attending.

“Number two!” he shouted as he stood excitedly. The Ferrets had gotten excitingly close to a goal attempt, only to have the opportunity snatched away by the opposing team. Bolin sat down dejectedly as Asami scanned through the players.

She found jersey number two on a girl about center field. Even from the stands, Asami could see the power running through the girl’s muscles as she manically chased down the ball. With a sigh, Asami regrettably had to admit to herself that Bolin’s suggestion actually would work quite well for their tests. Not able to take her eyes off her subject, she admired the girl’s tan features as they relentlessly wrestled for the ball.

“Yeah! Way to go, Korra!” Bolin stood, screaming as the girl successfully wrangled the ball away from the opponent. Asami unconsciously slid slightly forward on the bench to sit on the edge of her seat as her subject--Korra--drove the ball determinedly done the edge of the field.

Glancing up at the placement of players on the field, Korra lobbed the ball towards the center of what seemed like a mess of people in front of the goal to Asami. The crowd held their breath as another Ferret team member lunged forward, dodging an opponent. The player’s head collided with the ball and sent it soaring towards the goal. Unconsciously, Asami stood with the rest of the fans, eyes widening as the ball grazed the goalie’s fingertips, but continued it’s path straight into the net.

The stadium erupted in cheers, including Asami’s screams. Bolin turned to Asami and squeezed her in a tight hug, before he turned back to the field, jumping and screaming.

After the next kick off, the stadium had once again settled into their seats. Asami watched animatedly, trying to work through the rules and strategy of the game. As far as she could tell, the Ferrets moved together like a machine, something she was sure ensured their top rank in the league. They effortlessly kept control of the ball for most of the game.

“I’ve already explained the basics of our project to Korra,” Bolin leaned over and shouted at Asami, ripping her from her thoughts. Asami dragged her eyes from the game she was regrettably enjoying to meet Bolin’s. “She seemed pretty interested.”

Asami couldn’t be sure, but she thought she sensed a hint of suggestiveness in Bolin’s voice. Her eyes narrowed, but finding nothing but a nonchalant, innocent expression on his face, Asami sighed. She felt as if she read too much into everything Bolin said to her. Though in her defense, it was a natural response to have to being paired up with her every-now-and-then insufferable weekend hook-up’s younger brother for her biggest engineering project of her university career to date. Even if she had long since put Mako and his broodiness behind her and hadn’t seen him in months.

Instead of dwelling, however, Asami nodded her head positively. “Well, good. I wouldn’t want her dedicating hours of her life to our project if she wasn’t.” Bolin nodded in return with a beam and then suddenly jumped up, breaking into a scream.

“Two-Oh Fire Ferrets!” he hollered, repeating back the current score. Asami trained her eyes back towards the field as Korra was tackled by her teammates, presumably because she just scored. A beam spread across her face as she watched the celebration.

The rest of the game passed in a blur, with Bolin periodically explaining different rules to Asami. Bolin’s enthusiasm became infectious, and Asami soon found herself standing and cheering, as well as booing the refs, with the rest of the crowd. When the Fire Ferrets finished out the game three to one, the stadium turned into a massive party. Asami laughed with her raw throat as the jumped and screamed and celebrated in the crisp autumn air. Soon her companion was dragging her down the stands to the backside of the soccer field.

“It usually takes them about a half hour after their game is over to come out of the locker rooms, so we’ll have to wait here for about ten more minutes,” Bolin explained, as he halted several yards away from the locker rooms. As much as Asami enjoyed the game, she was thankful for the break from the large crowd. She leaned against the fence they were standing by and closed her eyes, letting out a sigh.

“Oh, come on now,” an unfamiliar woman’s voice rang out teasingly. “Watching me couldn’t have been that exhausting.”

Asami’s eyes shot up as her cheeks began to flush slightly. She must have dozed off slightly in her position, for now she found herself standing face to face with a girl she fought to recognize. Her blush deepened as she--in her disoriented state--not so subtly observed the drenched uniform clinging to all the girl’s curves of her tanned body, glistening with sweat.

Finally making the obvious connection that this was the potential test subject Bolin had wanted to introduce to her, Asami quickly averted her eyes in embarrassment. Not exactly the first impression she wanted to give. Luckily, however, Bolin jumped in as the subject raised her eyebrow amused.

“Asami, this is Korra. Korra, Asami,” Bolin introduced promptly. Korra and Asami shook hands, and Asami offered a shy smile, to which Korra took with a smirk.

Glancing to Bolin, Korra turned to Asami. “Uh, Bolin told me you guys are working on some sort of shoe tracker thing?” she inquired, shrugging her shoulders. “It seemed interesting, but Bo insisted you could explain it better than him and wouldn’t tell me anymore.”

Asami--regretfully--stammered to begin talking as Korra swept the bottom of her jersey off her abdomen to wipe some sweat off her face. Clenching her eyes shut and huffing, Asami scolded herself and shook her head.

“Yeah,” she finally managed to get out. “So what we’re doing is testing a life tracker we’ve made for any type of athletic shoe. The tracker should--if all the tests go as planned--alert an athlete when it’s getting close to time to buying new shoes, as well as a second alert of when it’s dangerous to keep wearing the shoes. It’s a pretty simple problem, but we’re hoping that something like this could prevent a lot of stress and injuries to athletes.”

Korra’s eyebrows raised at the proposition. “So you’re saying that you can tell by my shoe type and how much I’ve run when to switch out my shoes? So even if I’m never ready to believe I have to retire my shoes to the box of shame, this tracker will force me to acknowledge when the proper time to avoid shin splints would be?”

Asami chuckled softly. “Well, yes. That would be the intent,” she confirmed lightly. “The idea is while this will force athletes to buy shoes more often, it’ll pay off in the long run by avoiding more hospital bills and overall a healthier lifestyle.”

“Well sign me up!” Korra volunteered enthusiastically, and Asami could help but hide her beam. “When do you want to start?”

Asami bit her lip, knowing she was barely giving the girl any warning time. “We were hoping you would be able to start tomorrow afternoon, but if you can’t we’ll work something out,” she offered hopefully.

Korra shook her head with a smile. “That’ll work perfect! We always have a lighter practice after a win.”

“Okay, great!” Asami confirmed. “You can just meet us at the gym around one. I’ll teach you how to use the equipment and some preliminary set up things, and then we should be ready to start testing.”

Korra nodded with a smile. “Cool! I’m excited to have less shin splints,” she smirked, scrunching her nose at Asami. “I have to go shower, as I am disgusting, but I’ll see you tomorrow,” Korra promised, directing her statement towards the fair-skinned engineer.

“Go get clean, my little star player,” Bolin commanded lightly, tackling Korra in a hug and spinning her around. Korra let out a laugh as she pushed Bolin away from her; Asami joined in with a slight chuckle at the spectacle. Korra shot an amused smile at Bolin as she rolled her eyes.

With a smirk and a shake of her head, she addressed him. “We’re still on for tonight?” she asked, receiving a nod in return. “I’ll see you in an hour then!” Then with a wave to both people in her presence, Korra began jogging away.

“So?” Bolin asked after a beat of silence, the hint of suggestiveness reappearing in his voice. “What did you think?”

“She’s perfect,” Asami replied, the words escaping her mouth before she could process what she was implying. “As a test subject,” she clarified, stammering, but she didn’t miss Bolin’s smirk. Her eyes narrowed as they glared at him. She decided to get back at him, so she smirked in return and flipped her hair. “At least, she’s a good pick coming from a civil engineer.”

At this, Bolin scoffed and rolled his eyes, used to her digs at his major. “You only make fun of my major because it makes you feel insecure,” he bantered back.

“I make fun of your major because it is objectively the worst engineering has to offer,” Asami countered, a playfulness hinting at the edge of her voice.

Bolin became indignant her insult. “Oh yeah, says the girl majoring in financial engineering.”

“Double majoring in mechanical and financial engineering,” Asami stated, knowing Bolin already knew this. “Are you double majoring in two types of engineering, bridge boy?”

She smirked as Bolin began to grumble, knowing he was defeated. Eyes meeting in an impromptu staring contest, they soon both let out a laugh and began their trek back to their apartments.

###### 

“So give me some feedback,” Bolin requested, jumping and landing to sit on Korra’s table with a thud. He took a sip from the cool beer bottle in his hand as his friend turned around confused from the open refrigerator door. “What did you think?” he prompted again, raising his eyebrows.

Korra’s face relaxed into a calm excitement. “The project seems way cooler than what you described,” she raved, unable to help herself from making a small jab towards her friend. “I know a lot of people who would be really interested in these trackers if they work like you guys say they do.” She turned back around to grab a water bottle out of her fridge herself, as Bolin’s face fell slightly.

“Not the project, Kor. What’d you think of Asami?” he asked excitedly.

Korra froze with her hand reached inside the cool atmosphere of the fridge. Slowly she turned around with a mildly exasperated expression on her face. “Bo, please tell me you didn’t ask me to do this for you just so you could set me up with your project partner,” she pleaded, her eyes desperate. But her companions expression was one of genuine confusion.

“Shouldn’t you be thanking me for setting you up with Asami?” he asked innocently. Korra facepalmed aggravated at her friend’s relentless attempts at introducing her to people.

“I’m not going to date your partner, Bo. And I’m not going to be your test subject if that’s all you want from me,” she declared, turning back and finally grabbing her water. She slammed the fridge door shut and turned to find a very frustrated Bolin. Korra sighed and popped the latch on the bottle.

“I can’t believe you’re going to pass up someone as amazing as Asami because of someone that’s the trash of the Earth like Kuvira,” Bolin sulked, unable to hold back his venom towards Korra’s on again, off again relationship.

Korra clenched her jaw and fist in annoyance. “That’s not what I’m doing.”

“Then why won’t you give Asami a chance? If Kuvira has absolutely no hold on you, why are you being so stubborn?” Bolin challenged, his eyebrows scrunching up.

“Why can’t you just let this go, Bolin? I don’t want to be in a relationship. Especially not with Mako’s bed buddy,” Korra stated, her body taking a defensive stance. But the only thing that faced her was Bolin’s wide eyes. She realized her mistake too late. “Bo, no, I-”

Bolin threw his hands up and dropped them lifelessly back on the table with a clunk. “This is about Mako too?” he whined. “Spirits, no wonder you won’t give Asami a chance, you’re comparing her to possibly the two worst people to date on this campus. Seriously, Kor, has it ever occurred to you that you deserve better than Mako and Kuvira and maybe Asami might be just that?” 

Korra inhaled a sharp breath as Bolin stared at her pointedly. Eventually, Korra averted her eyes from Bolin, embarrassed and not sure what to say. She definitely thought he was wrong. But she wasn’t quite sure what about. Was she questioning deserving better or deserving Asami? Bolin hopped off the table and walked over to her gently as she contemplated.

“Look, you and me, we’ve been best friends our whole life. Mako’s my brother, and I love him, but the dude’s not good at not breaking people’s hearts. And Kuvira made you feel like maybe you never had to do that scary commitment thing, but it could only last a while, Kor. You have to come back now. I can’t keep watching you get hurt by her,” Bolin lectured softly. He waited patiently for an answer, as Korra pointedly avoided eye contact.

As Bolin opened his mouth to talk again, Korra turned away from him, completely shifting her mood. “What do you want to watch?” she asked in a forced neutral tone. She walked away from him, placed her hand on the back of her couch, and jumped to flop over onto the cushions.

Bolin sighed, sadly observing his friend. “You pick,” he called out, and then took a large swig of his beer. This was going to be harder than he thought.

###### 

“Alright, this strip velcros into the inside of your left shoe. Our design should cause fractional to nonexistent irritation inside the shoe, but if it does bother you, please let me know. We need to know everything about how our product works.”

Korra shot Asami a smile as she took the device from Asami. As she worked to attach it into her shoe, she could feel the female engineer’s eyes watching her patiently. Her fingers worked steadily and after a couple missed attempts, the velcro was securely fastened.

Asami furrowed her eyebrows in concern as Korra looked back up at her triumphantly. “Was that too hard to attach?” she asked. She quickly reached down onto the bench her test subject was sitting on to grab her notebook and pen, wanting to be ready for any feedback she would receive.

But to her relief, the tan girl shook her head. “Nah, it wasn’t hard. I just suck at velcro,” she stated with a playful smile.

Asami shot her back a small smile, but was still slightly concerned. “We can figure out a different design if-”

“I’m serious, Asami,” Korra cut in, raising her eyebrows pointedly. “The design is fine.”

Asami let out a little breath and nodded. “Okay,” she said, offering a small smile. “So from here I want to do some tests just to make sure the trackers are tracking the correct distance as you run.” She glanced down at her watch and looked up worriedly and slightly apologetic. “Uh, Bolin’s usually never this late.”

Korra dropped her eyes, mildly embarrassed. “Oh yeah, he texted me this morning and said he had to run some last minute errands, and he’ll be here ASAP,” she explained, hoping it didn’t sound as fake as it did when Bolin texted her. Errands her ass. This was Bolin meddling, and she knew it.

But luckily, Asami seemed oblivious to the whole ploy. “Oh, well then, let’s just get started. You can put on your shoes,” she directed, and then began writing down different observations she especially wanted to look out for. When Korra was done, she popped up, ready to go. “Alright,” Asami continued. “Let just start out on the treadmill. The device should be measuring your impacts, so even if you’re not moving anywhere, it can track how much you’re running.”

The two girls walked over to the treadmill and Korra set it on a mild speed as she began running comfortably. Asami fought to not admire the way her test subject’s toned body moved to the rhythm set by the treadmill’s pace. Rather, she busied herself by writing down the treadmill’s settings, but still became subdued to a light pink glow in her cheeks.

“Pull it together, Asami,” she muttered to herself. Korra was absolutely no different than any other attractive woman she had come in contact with over the years.

“So, I’m sure there’s a reason, but why did you guys need me to test this?” Korra asked genuinely, barely breaking a sweat. “Couldn’t you have just tested yourself?”

“We could have, yes,” Asami confirmed, becoming a bit more confident being able to focus on the project more. “But Bolin and I both decided it would be better to use a neutral third party, just so we wouldn’t accidentally skew the results. And besides that, neither of us run too terribly much. At least not to the extent you athletes do. So we wanted to test with accuracy towards the people who would need the device the most.”

Korra eyes flicked over towards Asami and did a once over up and down her body with a raised eyebrow; Asami felt her skin flush at the action. “Not into the gym scene?” she asked, slightly in disbelief. Mostly because Asami seem very fit. And like she had her life together and went to the gym four times a day.

“I didn’t say that,” Asami countered, losing most of her confidence. “I said I’m not a runner.”

This made Korra raise her eyebrows once again in curiosity. “Alright, I’m intrigued.”

Realizing the girl wanted her to disclose her workout schedule, Asami furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “Plenty of people come to the gym without running. Believe it or not, some people don’t like running,” she commented, teasing lightly. She was hesitant to banter with Korra, as they weren’t actually friends and had known each other for less than twenty-four hours, but she felt herself relax as Korra groaned playfully.

“Oh god,” she whined in exaggeration. “You’re a yoga girl.”

A hand shot to Asami’s hip as she pouted. “I’ll have you know that I walk out of hot yoga more exhausted than any of my boxing sessions,” she stated with an air to her voice. Her eyes met Korra’s and soon they were both giggling.

“So a yoga girl who boxes?” Korra questioned teasingly. “Sounds-”

Asami held up her hands in defense. “Don’t say it,” she cut off warningly, a hint of a smile toying in her voice.

“Badass,” Korra finished defiantly. Asami was helpless to stop the warm flush that crossed her cheeks as she averted her eyes back down to her clipboard and fake stared at data she had yet to collect. And in doing so, she missed the light redness that tinted her test subjects cheeks upon seeing the reaction to her comment.

“Uh,” Korra finally cut through the silence. “How long do I have to keep running?”

Asami’s eyes shot up, pulling her back into reality focused. Any sense of previous bantering had vanished as she returned to her professional self. Her eyes narrowed on the distance tracker on the treadmill. “You should be good,” she finally stated, motioning that Korra could turn off the treadmill. As Asami recording the time and distance ran from the equipment’s monitors, her test subject slowed to a stop.

“Asami! I am so sorry!” Bolin apologized, sprinting up to the two girls. Asami turned and met him with a small smile, waving him off. “I forgot Opal had a thing and tried to get here ASAP.”

Asami shook her head amused. “It’s no big deal, Bolin. We just finished up grabbing our first sample,” Asami explained, gesturing back to Korra, who looked rather unamused. But her eyes were trained on Bolin, so Asami turned back to him confused.

“Oh yeah, I completely forgot about Opal’s ‘thing’ too, Bo. I’m still having a hard time remembering what it was. Could you elaborate?” Korra asked in a flat voice. Bolin pouted and glared at her.

Crossing his arms, he stared defiantly back at the girl on the treadmill. “You know what thing I’m talking about.”

Korra opened her mouth to respond again, but having looking back and forth between them enough times, Asami figured she had caught on and cut her off. “Bolin, do you want to get the computer set up to analyze the data?” she asked with a forced smile. With one last glance at Korra, he nodded at Asami, lightened his mood, and went to pull up his laptop.

Asami couldn’t believe she ever trusted him not to set her up with someone.

But more than that, Asami couldn’t believe she was letting herself fall for the slightest bit of Bolin’s plot. As Korra walked by her to sit on the bench and take her device out of her shoe, Asami observed her quietly from the side. She was decidedly attractive, Asami admitted to herself. And she was also enjoyable to be around and quite honestly made Asami feel comfortable.

But that’s all she could say for the girl. And so right then and there, she decided this wasn’t worth pursuing. Bolin had introduced her to a nice, cute girl, and that was the extent of the situation. They would finish the project, and Bolin and Korra would part their ways with Asami.

“Asami?” Bolin repeated, jolting her from her thoughts. Her eyes flicked to Bolin’s as he looked at her concerned. “What do you say?” he asked, as if he had already asked the question. She shook her head in confusion, eyes flicking back towards Korra who watched her carefully.

Bolin sighed. “Tonight? I’m having a party at my place. You should come.” His face looked eager and hopeful. Asami hesitated uncomfortably. She didn’t enjoy going to parties with people she didn’t know. And she had a feeling this wouldn’t help the current situation she was in.

“I don’t know what my friends are doing tonight,” she excused herself lamely. Bolin rolled his eyes and scoffed in response.

His eyes met hers in a challenge. “Name one of your friends you genuinely want to hang out with tonight over us,” he demanded.

Asami--ashamedly--hesitated once again. Immediately she regretted confiding in Bolin her and her friends had completely different interests and so she distanced herself from them through schoolwork. And of course Bolin was trying to not only set her up with a significant other, but an entire new friend group as well.

“Nope, you’ve hesitated too long. You’re coming,” Bolin stated decidedly. Asami tried to protest, but he held up his hand. “I’ll text you my address.”

Bolin smirked at Asami who stared at him open mouthed and slightly annoyed. Her eyes flicked from his to Korra’s, who were staring at her with an unreadable expression. Uncomfortable, Asami avert her eyes and gritted her teeth.

“Let’s just download this data,” she stated, clear annoyance in her voice as she walked over to sit beside Bolin.

###### 

She would never admit it to anyone, but Asami was nervous. And contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t because of Korra. But rather because this was her first official college party. And to be completely honest, she had no idea how to do this.

Her friends never went out, per se. Or they didn’t go to parties, at least. They attended gatherings in upscale halls or ate dinner at fancy restaurants like Kwong’s. None of them bothered themselves with the college experience. And now they had left Asami feeling completely out of depth.

The closest thing she had ever had to a normal college party is the few times she had gotten incredibly intoxicated at a hall uptown and would end up escaping her friends by going home with the waiter who doubled as a moody electrical engineering student. And honestly she wasn’t even sure if she could count Mako as a normal college experience.

So now was her first taste. And as she knocked on the door of the already-too-loud apartment, she shifted uncomfortably on her feet, feeling out of place. When the door swung open, an incredibly excited Bolin greeted her, and she shot him a grim smile. But he didn’t notice, threw his arm around her shoulder, and dragged her inside.

“Come on, you need some shots!” he yelled over the noise of the party. As the two approached the kitchen, Bolin dropped Asami’s arm, and ducked around the crowd of people to presumably secure shots.

“Hey!” Asami heard a voice call out from her side. She turned with furrowed eyebrows that relaxed into a smile to see familiar blue eyes greeting her.

“Hey, yourself,” Asami greeted, allowing herself to relax a little and walk closer to where Korra was leaned nonchalantly against the counter. The tan-skinned girl wore dark-wash bootcut jeans that fit her just right and a black crop top that admittedly would have teased Asami, had she been intoxicated.

Korra smirked. “I honestly didn’t think you would come!” she called out, allowing her eyes to admire the fair-skinned engineer’s deep red v-neck tucked into her black skinny jeans. Asami blushed, but met her stare.

“Sorry to disappoint,” she shot back, playfully, which earned her a grin from the other girl.

“Nah,” Korra shot back. “It’s nice to see you as a normal person instead of an engineer.”

Tilting her head and narrowing her eyes, Asami smirked. “I was almost offended until I realized I can’t be offended by what’s true.” Korra let out a laugh at this, and Asami join in with a slight giggle. Maybe tonight wasn’t going to be as horrible as Asami had feared it would be.

“Shots for the ladies!” Bolin declared as he approached them. Korra grinned eagerly taking hers, while Asami hesitantly grabbed hers as well. Before she could ask Bolin what specifically the shot was of, he disappeared into the crowd, and she looked back helplessly at Korra, who was laughing and shaking her head.

“You know, sometimes I think he forgets I’m in season,” she chuckled, admiring her shot glass. Her eyes looked up and met Asami’s.

Honestly, Asami hadn’t even registered that fact. “I honestly forgot too. Guess that means you’re not drinking?” she asked sympathetically, but was surprised when Korra met her with a sly grin.

“Oh hell no,” she stated defiantly. “I am most definitely taking this shot. I just can’t really drink much besides.” Asami smirked as the girl pointedly downed her shot.

Glancing back down at her glass, Asami bit the inside of her cheek. Here goes nothing, she thought, as she brought the glass to her lips and tipped all the liquid in her mouth. The alcohol burned her throat as it slid effortlessly down her throat. Fireball, she thought, as she struggled not to grimace at the ungodly strong cinnamon taste that now seared her mouth. She looked back at Korra and offered a smile to the girl who was watching her amused.

A beat or two of awkward silence passed before Asami decided to strike up a conversation again. “So, I’m forcing you to run for me, but we never did any of the cheesy introduction stuff,” she started, trying to force confidence out of herself. When she glanced back up at Korra, she was still grinning amused, which she took as a good sign to continue. “What does a soccer extraordinaire major in?”

Korra scoffed at the joke, scrunching up her face playfully. “Environmental Science,” she responded proudly. “Protector, defender, and master of the elements at your service.” Korra bowed extravagantly in front of Asami, causing her to giggle. Korra smiled triumphantly and stood back up. “And you? What terrible form of torture did you submit yourself to when you enrolled in engineering?”

Laughing, Asami shook her head ashamed. “Mechanical and Financial.”

Korra let out a low whistle, raising her eyebrows. “Two forms of torture?” she asked, impressed. “Damn, Asami. You truly are a badass.”

Downcasting her eyes to concentrate on feigning off the heat rising in her cheeks, the engineer kept a strained smile on her face. “Oh please,” she said with forced lightheartedness. “They were basically chosen for me.” When she raised her eyes, Korra’s met hers with curiosity.

“How so?”

With a short laugh, Asami shrugged, planning on how to carefully construct her words through the minefield that was her background. “I’m hoping to work within and eventually take over my father’s business,” she explained vaguely, hoping the girl wouldn’t press for details. “It just made sense to study the inventing and business side of things.” Glancing back at Korra, she let out a breath of relief that the girl seemed content with this response. “And what about you, master of the elements? How did you choose?” Asami asked, jumping back into her enthusiastic interest in the girl before her.

“Grew up in the Southern Water Tribe,” Korra answered proudly, straightening her shoulders a bit at the statement. “We’re kind of directly affected by pollution, global warming, and all the jazz,” she tried to state pleasantly, but there was a sad edge that cut into her voice.

“I’ve always wanted to visit,” Asami offered eagerly, hoping to pull the girl’s thoughts. At the sight of the bright beam that now covered Korra’s face, her heart warmed. “Is it as beautiful as they say?”

“Even more,” the tribal girl answered, almost bouncing out of her skin. It wasn’t very often she met someone in the city that wanted to talk about her home. It was refreshing.

Growing even more fond of the destination she always dreamed of visiting, Asami urged the conversation forward. “My father is working on some trade deals with the Southern Tribe, and I’ve been trying to convince him to take me along on a business meeting forever. I’ll insist more diligently now,” Asami declared, a soft laugh hinting at the edge of her voice.

Catching her off-guard, however, Korra’s eyebrows suddenly furrowed in confusion. She contemplated Asami a few moments, in which Asami stood frozen, wondering what she’d said wrong. Eventually, Korra voiced her concern.

“What do you mean by-” she started, but then decided to start over. “The only company my dad’s talking to is-” She cut off again, growing frustrated with her words, took a deep breath, and then it hit her. Oh spirits.

Her eyes widen as she looked at Asami like she was seeing her for the first time. Asami frowned, unsure of what was happening. “Oh my spirits,” Korra whispered aloud this time. Then shaking herself back into a normal state, she blinked a few times as a look of disbelief covered her face. “Your dad owns Future Industries!” The tribal girl threw her head back in a loud laugh, and then gazed back at Asami incredulously. “Oh spirits. You’re an _heiress_.”

Asami shifted uncomfortably and unhappily, still unable to help the blush on her cheeks. This was the information she was specifically trying to avoid Korra--or anyone for that matter--from finding out. And she wasn’t quite sure what to make of the girl’s reaction. She supposed it was an improvement from automatically being asked out to different places so they could become best friends. But it still made her uncomfortable.

And honestly, how did Korra figure it out?

“How did you-” Asami huffed, looking in Korra’s eye. The only person her dad had spoken with was- She broke off her thought when she remembered Korra had also mentioned her father. But there was no way…

“You’re Chief Tonraq’s daughter?” she asked hesitantly, eyes widening as a sheepish smile met her gaze.

Korra’s arm clumsily reached to the back of her neck. “Uh yeah,” she confirmed, embarrassedly. “Did you miss the whole ‘Chief’s daughter skips town to play soccer’ bit?” she teased lightly.

“Honestly, yes,” Asami admitted with a short laugh. “I never really kept up with sports.” It was so surreal to be standing in front of this girl that she knew--well, not know know, but know enough--and suddenly realize she had this whole other life. It had to be like meeting her except- “Oh spirits,” Asami closed her eyes and shook her head at herself. Opening them to a confused Korra, she explained, “You’re royalty.”

“Hey, woah,” Korra stated defensively, holding up her hands. “Unofficial. Technically the my cousins in the Northern Tribe are the royalty. And I’m not the one here who’s the heiress to the most renowned company in the world.” Her words came out heartedly, but there was still a sense of awestruck in them.

Pulling a straight face, Asami shrugged. “Alright, fine,” she conceded. “So we both have our flaws.” Korra stopped and truly considered the heiress’ words. Having their birth rights joked at as flaws struck a chord. Because most days, that’s honestly what it could feel like. Her smile faded slightly as she stared at wonder at the heiress before her, which did not go unnoticed. “What?” Asami asked, trying to keep a light tone, but ending up sounding a bit breathless.

“It’s just… This is nice. Finally meeting someone at this school who understands on some level,” the tribal girl admitted, averting her eyes, because that probably sounded really stupid. But as her eyes wandered back to the peridot ones waiting for her, she relaxed.

Asami was smirking. “Sucks, doesn’t it?” she asked playfully, a regretful tone seeping in.

Korra could only offer a half smile and a solemn nod. “On about every level.” They held each other’s eyes for a few moments, before Korra’s eyes caught emerald ones staring pointedly at her across the room beyond Asami. A small frown of concern crossed her face before her eyes flicked back to Asami’s.

Unable to help herself, Asami gracefully glanced behind her and noticed the girl boring her eyes into Korra. Suddenly, she felt incredibly uncomfortable, and like she needed to get out of the line of sight. Noticing Korra still sneaking glances behind her, Asami sighed wistfully.

“You can go, you know,” she offered, her voice quiet, smaller than usual. “You don’t have to entertain me all night.” A bit of defiance bitterly entered her voice as the cyan eyes widened.

“I wasn’t- I don’t-” Korra was helpless to stop her eyes from wandering back over to Kuvira, who was smirking at her teasingly. Hanging her head, she gave up on her sentence.

“Korra, seriously. It’s fine. Go,” Asami commanded. Her heart lurched as the tan-skinned girl peered up at her gratefully.

The girl nodded. “Okay,” she submitted, and began making her way around Asami. She paused momentarily. “I’ll- I’ll talk to you later?” she asked politely. Unable to form the words, Asami forced a smile and nodded. And then Korra was lost to the crowd, and Asami turned back to the kitchen, suddenly needing to find the alcohol supply.

It was an unknown amount of time and an unknown amount of drinks later that Asami found herself sitting on the apartment’s couch alone and sadly people watching. And by people watching, she meant person watching. And by person watching, she meant Korra watching. And by Korra watching, she meant watching Korra and some girl make out passionately for what felt like hours on end on the other side of the room and pitifully reexamining every single relationship that had never worked out in her life.

In summary, she had decided there was a reason she had never gone out and partied before.

“Asami, my girl!” Bolin exclaimed, apparently finally finding her hiding spot in plain sight. “What’s the good word?” Bolin crashed onto the couch ungracefully and landing practically on top of her. She could tell immediately that he was drunk, but hell, who was she to judge?

“You did this,” she stated bitterly, and turned her head to glare at Bolin. His eyebrows were furrowed in confusion as he tried to catch up to her line of thought in his intoxicated state.

“I’m sorry, what did I do?” he asked concerned.

“This,” she responded shortly, throwing her hands up and gesturing to everything. Again, Bolin’s eyes questioned her, not following her at all. She let out an exasperated sigh. “My first college party, and I’m drunk, pathetically sitting on the couch alone, and am forced to watch that.” Her finger jerked shakily in the general direction of Korra’s PDA session, but her eyes refused to leave Bolin as he tried to follow where her finger was pointing, puzzled.

Finally, he gave up. “Watch what?”

“Oh, stop acting all innocent,” Asami demanded, becoming more frustrated with herself than anyone else. Tears began pressurizing on the insides of her eyes. “You’ve been trying to set me and Korra up, don’t attempt to deny it. Well, congratulations! It worked for me and not for her.” Her words spewed out with sarcastic venom, as she tried to hold her tears in. Now she couldn’t meet his eyes, so she suddenly became very interested in the beer she held in her hand.

Bolin was quiet for a long while, so eventually Asami worked up the courage to peek at him. She clenched her jaw when she noticed the sly smile on his lips.

When he finally had her attention, his smile morphed into smugness. “You like Korra,” he taunted in a sing song voice. “I knew you would!” Asami huffed and rolled her eyes, irked.

“Bolin, it doesn’t matter because she clearly has other interests,” she responded, her tone slipping from heated to helpless. Her eyes wandered back over to the scene that had held them for such a long time, and she grimaced as she forced herself to look away.

Frowning, Bolin watched Korra and Kuvira. Honestly, he wasn’t surprised. This happened every time those two were within fifty miles of each other. But he had hoped maybe with Asami here, it would deter her slightly. He thought back to how animated Korra acted when she was talking to his engineering partner earlier. He shook his head decidedly. Korra could say or do what she willed. She liked Asami. Bolin knew her better than anyone, and he could read her like a book. Which meant what he feared was right.

Korra had convinced herself she wasn’t worthy to date anyone except people who treated her like garbage.

But he couldn’t worry about Korra right now, as Asami was sitting beside him on the couch, staring at him vulnerably. “I think you’re wrong about her,” he began, her eyes shooting to his, angrily ready to protest, but he held his hands up in a plea to be able to finish. “Kuvira is, well, she’s not for Korra, let’s say. Korra likes you; she just hasn’t figured out what’s right for her yet. She’ll come around.”

Asami considered his words and pouted. “You know, there’s a saying that’s something like ‘If I’m not your first choice, then I’m not an option’,” she argued weakly.

“And you and I both know love is a fucked up mess, and that quote is bullshit,” he scoffed. He softened his expression a bit, however, when he noticed Asami bite her lip in an attempt to hold back her tears. Gently, he put his arm around her and comforted her as she snuggled into his chest.

“Why did you do this to me?” came the muffled voice from his chest. 

He smiled fondly and patted her silky, black hair. “Because you both deserve better,” he explained softly.

Bolin held Asami for awhile, but eventually he had to gently let her go as Opal had been waiting on him. He got up, promising to bring her back a beer, and disappeared into the night. Asami groaned and threw her head back on the couch and closed her eyes. She didn’t want to be here anymore, but she also didn’t quite know how to get home at the moment, so she had to stay and just be miserable.

“You seem to be having a rager!”

With an annoyed expression, Asami groggily sat up from her position on the couch, only then realizing how long she had been like that from the painful crick in her neck. Her eyes slowly made their way over to the person now seated to her left on the couch. She hadn’t even registered who was sitting there, and she found herself restraining falling into her arms and falling asleep.

“Korra,” Asami finally stated, as if she finally remembered the girl’s name. The girl grinned back at her, highly amused at her intoxication, which Asami found irritating. She wouldn’t be intoxicated if this girl was so… irritating. “Where’s-” She started off her snarky comment, but then she noticed the girl Korra had been--had kissed earlier off in a different corner with a guy she couldn’t recognize, putting on essentially the same scene. Asami’s eyes grazed back over to Korra, who was carefully watching her put the pieces together with a strained expression. The engineer’s eyes clenched shut, and she decided to start over, calmer this time. “Where’s Bolin?” she asked. “He was supposed to bring me another beer.” Her words slurred together as she tried to form coherent thoughts.

Korra’s eyes were grateful, which made Asami smile. She liked Korra being happy. Probably a side effect of liking Korra. Or was it the other way around? Honestly, how was she supposed to know, she hadn’t even known the girl two days ago.

“Who needs him?” Korra asked. “C’mon, we’ll go get you another one.” Korra offered her arm out to Asami for support, and Asami considered refusing. So many bad things could happen if Asami were that close to Korra in this state. And most of them would be her fault. But when she hesitated, she noticed Korra’s eyes pleading with her, and realized this girl just needed a distraction.

And what Asami would do to distract her.

Heat rose to Asami’s cheeks at the thought as she mumbled “okay” and accepted Korra’s invitation to the kitchen. She clenched tightly to the tribal girl’s--muscular--arm. And she was doing fine with walking until some asshole decided to run into her, and then all bodily functions ceased to exist.

Korra caught Asami with a small laugh, her arm wrapping tightly around the fair-skinned girl’s waist. Asami struggled to breathe, but managed to wrap her arms around Korra--for support, she told herself. Korra refused to let go of Asami’s waist, and she felt her skin crawl.

“Spirits, you’re smashed,” she whispered, looking into the peridot eyes that barely seemed to register they were being spoken to. She noticed the arm clutching rather unnecessarily and low on her waist, but refused to correct the action. Instead, she tightened her grip, and began steering them in a different direction.

She heard Asami mumble something to the extent of asking where Korra was taking her. “We’re going to get you some air,” Korra responded softly, continuing to gently lead the girl through the crowd. When Asami had to maneuver around a pile of beer cans on the floor, both reluctantly let go of each other’s waists. As soon as she was able, however, Asami clumsily grabbed Korra’s hand and intertwined their fingers as she leaned desperately on the girl.

Korra blushed slightly, but ignored the sensation and finally got to the edge of the apartment and opened the door to lead them outside. Asami sat down on the steps with a thud, refusing to let go of Korra’s hand. With more grace, Korra sat down right beside the girl, their thighs brushing, but Korra refused to meet Asami’s expression. It didn’t feel right.

Which was confusing because all of this felt right. Just for someone else. Like she had stolen somebody’s seat. She let out a frustrated sigh as she tried to work through what was happening. But her concentration was interrupted as Asami softly nuzzled her head on Korra’s shoulder.

“Thanks, Kor,” she mumbled, her eyes fluttering shut and fingers keeping a tight grip on Korra’s.

Korra stared at the girl for a long while, taking in everything about her. This girl was too much, she decided. Too much of--everything. And Korra had nothing to offer her. With a grim smile, she sighed. “It’s no problem, Sami.”

At the use of her nickname, Asami hummed happily, causing Korra’s heart to flutter a bit. She watched as Asami’s breathing evened and eventually she fell asleep. Korra stayed with her for an hour watching all the people leave the party. And as much as she wanted to stay in this position forever, she knew it was time to go back to reality. Bolin and Opal probably were already occupying the bedroom, but she was sure Bo wouldn’t mind if Asami and her stayed the night.

Asami wouldn’t remember it the next morning, but when Korra gently woke her up to move instead, Asami disorientedly sat up, and looked at her companion on the steps. Upon seeing who it was, a soft smile took over her face.

“Korra,” she mumbled happily, as she wrapped her hands around the girl’s waist and didn’t let go until Korra placed her on the couch.

With both her hands on the back of her neck, Korra let out a sigh at the girl sleeping peacefully on the sofa. She kicked herself mentally, and went into the kitchen to see what alcohol was left.

This girl was just too much.

###### 

“Alcohol,” Bolin demanded as he swung open the door to Korra’s apartment with no warning. His face looked sullen as he avoided everyone’s eyes and flopped down on the couch.

Unable to contain herself, Asami giggled as she watched Opal trail in after Bolin, shaking her head with a smirk. Iroh fought to keep a straight face, for the sake of his best friend’s glum mood, but found himself busying himself with the remote to hide his smile. Korra sauntered over to wear Bolin was sprawled out on the couch and sat down on him dramatically.

“Rough day, Bo?” she inquired, with a mocking seriousness in her tone. Bolin grunted and rolled his eyes as he pushed Korra off of him and curled up on himself, pouting. The tribal girl began laughing boisterously; Asami brought up her hand and snorted quietly, trying to hide her laughs at the unfolding scene.

Opal rolled her eyes as she made her way around the couch and settled herself in between Bolin and Korra. “He’s just upset because his architecture class is harder than he thought it’d be,” she explained, patting him on the back patronizingly. As an architecture major who put up with years of listening to Bolin state that her classes were elementary compared to his engineering ones, Opal notedly mustered up little to no sympathy for her boyfriend.

Ignoring the fact everyone was laughing at him, Bolin flipped over, bottom lip stuck out sadly. “I needed this class to help offset my grades from last semester,” he whined.

“Hey,” Asami called out in a fake-offended sing-song voice from across the room. “We aced our project,” she pointed out, solely to annoy him in his time desperation. Bolin shot her a glare as she giggled.

Jumping in on the fun, Korra bounced to sit up straight and look at her friend on the opposite side of Opal. “Which would not have been possible without me,” she offered in a helpful tone, but smirked when Bolin trained his glare on her instead.

Sighing dramatically and turning his gaze to the ceiling, Bolin threw his arms up behind him. “Yeah, well that’s about the only thing that worked for me last semester,” he admitted bitterly. Opal rubbed his stomach with an amused look, as Asami stood with a chuckle.

“No worries, Bo,” she comforted as she began to walk towards the kitchen. “I’ll go get the drinks. You’ll feel better then.” Noticing a thumbs up from the end of the couch sticking way up in the air with no comment, Asami shook her head amused and hopped around the couch.

“I’ll come help!” Korra called after her, jumping up from the couch and following closely after the fair-skinned engineer.

As the two girls entered the kitchen, they wordlessly communicated their roles to one another: Korra heading straight to the fridge for beer and Asami reaching up into the cabinets for the liquor. Three months since they met, and the two could practically tell what the other was thinking at any given point in time. It was a strange sort of comfort, befriending someone who felt like they already knew you. Asami could say what she will about Bolin and his meddling, but he gave her somewhere to belong and someone to be a part of. She owed him.

“What do you think?” Asami asked, scanning through all the liquor bottles in Korra’s collection. “Rum and vodka tonight?” She turned around to look at Korra directly and was caught off guard by Korra’s presence mere inches behind her, also looking through the liquor cabinet above Asami’s head. Startled, Asami tried to backup and thumped the counter loudly.

Also surprised at their sudden proximity due to Asami spinning around, Korra froze, wide eyes flicking to Asami’s. She tried to hide the grimace from her face, uncomfortable with the position she’d put them in, but neither made initiative to move away. The cyan eyes flicked unconsciously down to the red-stained lips, and the heiress wished she was better at controlling her blush at this point.

It had been three months. And neither girl had become more subtle about their attraction to each other. Instead, they hid their feelings behind obvious glances, lingering touches and an attachment at the hips. Hiding in plain sight. But it frustrated the pair to no end.

Korra because she shouldn’t be doing this. She shouldn’t be encouraging their feelings when she knew the only outcome would be her disappointing Asami. She cared for the girl, more than she usually cared to admit. And she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself if she allowed them to become that close, and then inevitably broke her heart. Korra had never done commitment before, and there was a reason for it. She just simply wasn’t the type of person who could.

Asami because it was so obvious that this would work. She had never felt so compatible, so connected to anyone in her life. It only took her a few weeks to become closer to this girl than anyone she’d ever befriended before. And even though her inner demons taunted her with thoughts of her feelings not being reciprocated, Korra made it so obvious that they were. And that’s why Asami just didn’t understand why the only thing holding them back was-

Korra’s phone began ringing, right on cue. Asami sighed and looked at the floor dismayed as Korra fished the phone out of her pocket, breaking out of their trance. Asami heard the voice on the other end of the line, confirming her suspicions, and turned back to the liquor cabinet, pulling out just the vodka.

“Yeah, just give me a few minutes,” Korra responded to the question posed on the other side of the conversation. Asami gripped the vodka bottle tighter and gritted her teeth as she pointedly removed herself from between the girl and the counter as Korra hung up the phone.

The engineer busied herself with organizing the alcohol in the box as she called out in a pleasantly strained voice. “You’re leaving.” It was more of a statement than a question, and Asami steadied her breathing so as to not give away her disappointment.

“Kuvira’s picking me up,” she not-answered to the not-question. An uncomfortable silence passed between the two for a beat. “Will you cover for me?” Korra eventually asked, acting out the play they had so many times before.

Following her script, Asami turned around and met Korra’s eyes with a forced smile. “Of course,” she promised, a bittersweet tone edging at her voice. Though she knew it wouldn’t make a difference. The moment she walked back into the living room without her companion, everyone would know exactly what had come to pass. And as the stage directions directed, she would ignore all the pointed stares and glances at each other.

“You’re the best, Sami,” Korra thanked her sincerely as she passed, sneaking towards the door. Keeping the pleasant expression, Asami watched Korra slip around the corner quietly. As soon as the girl was gone from sight, Asami slumped against the counter and let out a sigh. She allowed herself a few moments to compose herself, and then turned, reinstating her neutral expression.

Grabbing the box of alcohol the girls had prepared, she gritted her teeth and made her way back to the living room. Iroh was the first to notice her entrance. His eyes lit up, but quickly narrowed seeing she was alone. Noticing Iroh’s expression, Bolin and Opal perked up from their seats and frowned when they noticed Asami.

“Who wanted beer and who wanted vodka?” Asami asked in an overly perky voice, avoiding eye contact with all of them.

“Asami…” Bolin started, sitting up further and flipping to his knees to face her. The girl let her eyes glance to his, and quickly averted them again, her stomach twisting at the sympathy in his expression.

“Don’t,” Asami cut him off forcibly. She was fine. Absolutely nothing was wrong, and she wished they would all stop looking at her like that. Korra was her best friend. And as her best friend, she was not upset that Korra had ran off to fuck Kuvira… again.

Opal flattened her mouth into a grim expression. “Maybe you should talk to her about it,” she suggested gently.

Still refusing to meet their eyes, Asami shook her head. “It’s none of my business,” she stated bitterly. She shifted the weight in her feet uncomfortably, finding new things in Korra’s apartment to focus on rather than her own personal pity party.

“She’s your best friend,” Iroh chimed in seriously. Apparently everyone had decided tonight was the night to gang up on her. “Of course it’s your business.”

“Look,” Asami demanded impatiently. “If she wants to throw herself at Kuvira, who am I to stop her?” Though she tried to remain annoyed throughout the entire statement, the end came out feeling a bit helpless. Her eyes scanned all their expressions and bit her cheek to keep the pressure building from behind her eyes. Finally, noting no one else was going to say it, Bolin broke the silence.

“You’re the girl she’s in love with, but doesn’t think she deserves,” he disclosed, calculating his words and watching her face carefully.

Asami thought she would break down right then and there, but instead, she took a deep breath and met Bolin’s eye pointedly. “Beer or vodka?”

Her company deflated slightly at her insistence to avoid the topic they all wished to address, but reluctantly called out their preferences. Asami settled on a beer, but only drank half of it before she set it aside, which didn’t go unnoticed by the group. Anytime something was seriously eating away at her thoughts, they knew she wouldn’t be able to clog up her mind with the alcohol.

They spent most of the night trying to take her mind off the missing presence, and for the most part succeeded. Asami was her usual quick witted and light hearted self. But if a silence dragged on a beat too long or a conversation went too far down the wrong path, it wasn’t hard to miss her distracted expression.

It was later into the night, while Opal and Iroh ganged up on Bolin about his poor performance rock climbing the night before, that Asami’s phone began to ring. Glancing at the name, her heart stopped momentarily. She clicked the green bubble immediately and brought the phone to her ear, suddenly alert.

“Hello?” she asked, voice using an edge of urgency. She ignored the confused looks and furrowed eyebrows that were now directed at her by her company.

“Sami?” came the slurred voice from the other end. “Are you drinking?” Asami grimaced at how thickly laced with alcohol and depression Korra’s voice sounded on the other end.

“No,” she responded comfortingly. She heard the girl sigh in relief, and her heart clenched slightly.

Korra took a few seconds to form her thoughts for her next question. “C-could you pick me up?” she asked, pleading, though she didn’t need to.

It took Asami less than a second to decide. “Of course. Where are you?” she asked seriously, standing up from her seat and walking over to the coffee table to grab her keys, still ignoring her friends’ stares. Keys in hand, she stood attentively waiting for the response.

“White Lotus Motel,” Korra finally disclosed. “It’s about twenty minutes out of the city. I don’t-“ her voice cut off and was replaced with the sound of a hiccup. “I don’t want to be here anymore, Sami.”

Taking a deep breath, Asami steadied herself against the desperation in her friend’s voice. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes,” she promised, solemnly. “Are you okay?” She had to know before she left what state she would find Korra in. She had to know if she had been hurt.

“Yes,” Korra finally answered after several beats of silence. “I just want you here.”

Asami relaxed slightly and clenched her eyes closed at Korra’s words. “Okay. I’ll see you soon.” Korra thanked her again, and Asami hung up the phone, taking a shuddering breath. Finally meeting her friends’ eyes, she gave them an apologetic expression. “I have to go,” she stated without an explanation. Without a word or a questioning look, they all nodded, to her relief. And then she sprinted out the door of the apartment to her car.

Despite Korra telling her she was fine, Asami couldn’t stop herself from pushing the speed limit to get to her faster. She didn’t know what happened that Korra would call her to pick her up, but whatever it was, she didn’t want Korra to be around it longer than necessary.

She managed to shave five minutes off her anticipated travel time, pulling up to the motel twenty-five minutes after she had left the apartment. She let out a sigh when she noticed Korra sitting on a bench by the main entrance, visibly okay. Raising her eyes when she noticed the headlights pull into the parking lot, Korra watched the Satomobile pulling up beside her, her expression remaining grim. Just by her demeanor, Asami could tell the girl had sobered up significantly since her call. As Korra walked up to passenger side, Asami took note of the incredibly loud party happening in one of the motel rooms. Sighing, she concluded Korra had been ditched by Kuvira at the party.

Korra opened the passenger door forcibly and practically threw herself into the car unhappily, slamming the door shut. Noticing Asami’s eyes flick questioningly from Korra to the party, she scowled. “I don’t want to talk about it,” she growled, crossing her arms and slumping in the seat. Her eyes pointedly stared out the window, avoiding Asami’s gaze.

Watching Korra for a few moments, Asami finally sighed and gave up, putting the car in drive. “Hello to you too,” she mumbled sarcastically, not caring if it earned her a glare from her companion. She had known the tribal girl long enough now to know that while she was sobering up, she could be incredibly grouchy. But maybe it was her conversation with her friends earlier that night, or maybe it was how desperate Korra had sounded over the phone, but tonight the girl’s attitude irritated her. It was her own fault she was upset about this; she didn’t have to get destroyed by Kuvira every weekend if she chose not to.

Asami made it almost ten minutes back to the apartment with the sulking girl without saying a word. But eventually it just became too much. With a sigh, she broke the silence with her melancholy voice. “What are you doing, Kor-“

“I said I don’t want to talk about it!” Korra exclaimed, cutting her off and delivering a hostile glare.

With no warning, Asami slammed on her brake on the empty road, and swerved to the side. Once the car was no longer in motion, she threw the vehicle in park, and matched Korra’s glare with an even more ferocious one. Korra shrunk back in the seat and lost her conviction, betraying some of her fear on her face.

“No,” Asami seethed. “You can pull that shit on Bolin and Opal, but I am done dealing with it. I just drove a half hour without question for _you_. And you haven’t even thanked me. Spirits, Korra.” Her voice cracked, as she felt the tears begin to build. Her angry demeanor began to diminish as she began to feel more helpless with the girl sitting across from her. She noted the tears already streaming from the cyan eyes that refused to meet hers. “If I want to talk about it, then you fucking owe me, of all people,” she finished, trying to steel her voice against the anger and tears.

Korra drew her knees up to her body and buried her head in them. “I’m sorry, ‘Sami. I’m, spirits-“ Her voice cut off as a sob left her throat. “I’m so sorry,” the words came out as more of a mumble through the tears. Without her permission, tears began eroding away at Asami’s cheeks and she turned forward—away from Korra—and buried her face in her hands. And then they sat silently in the car, crying for everything they should be.

Suddenly, Asami slammed the steering wheel with her hands in anger, startling her passenger. “Why haven’t you left her?” she demanded, all but screaming. Once the words left her, however, Asami crumpled in on herself and began to sob, not caring if Korra witnessed how much she had been hurt by her. She stayed like that for several minutes, before she abruptly decided to stop crying: she was tired, and screaming and sobbing at Korra wasn’t going to help anything. Quickly, the car was put back in drive and went speeding down the road without so much as a glance or comment towards the passenger. But she could feel her eyes on her.

Korra—still crying—stayed silent for a long while before speaking. “I will,” she finally answered in a raspy voice. “I am,” she corrected. “Right now. I’m leaving her.”

Asami gave a terse nod, but didn’t say anything. How long had she waited to hear those words from Korra? And now she’d heard them, and it didn’t change anything. She was still angry, still hurt by the fact it had taken this long and screaming at her to fix it. As it turned out, there was no miracle fix for the two of them. So instead, they just sat in silence for the last half of the drive.

When Asami pulled up to Korra’s apartment, she noticed everyone was still there. Korra’s face hardened at the thought of having to walk past them with her puffy red eyes and shame, but after Asami’s outburst, she didn’t even consider asking her to sneak her in. After a moment’s hesitation, Korra slipped out of the car and began making her way slowly up to the door. Asami took a deep breath and then followed.

By the time Asami reached the apartment and walked in, Korra was already on her way to her room without a word to her friends, who were now all standing and waiting for Asami. She closed the door softly, and walked into living room, watching Korra go down the hall to her room.

She bit her cheek and turned to her friends, sadly. Not willing to meet their eyes or admit what she’d done. “How stupid am I?” she finally asked, desperation seeping into her voice.

“Not at all,” Opal responded immediately with confidence. Slowly, Asami raised her eyes to witness all her friends nodding solemnly in agreement. She just couldn’t bring herself to believe them.

“Korra just needs time,” Bolin added, hoping his words would comfort the girl he’d grown to see as one of his best friends. But to his dismay, Asami shook her head repulsively.

The friends waited for her to speak. She let out a little cry, before her words pierced through the air. “But how desperate is it to wait for someone who’s been dragging me along for so long,” she cried.

“No,” Bolin cut in, irritated. “Don’t give me that bullshit, Asami. You _know_ Korra feels the same way about you.”

“She has a funny way of showing it,” Asami couldn’t help but mumble, once again avoiding eye contact with her friends.

This time it was Iroh who spoke up. “Because she’s Korra,” he stated simply. He sighed, knowing he would have to continue his thought. “And she’s convinced herself she doesn’t want commitment because it would be unfair to you.” The words did little to assuage the current pain in her chest, but Asami appreciated them either way.

“Look,” Opal gently continued off the boys’ thoughts. “Korra’s actions suck. But she needs you right now. So you can yell and be mad at her all you want—none of us would blame you—but relationships aren’t an even give and take at any moment. Right now, you have to give a little more. You’re understandably frustrated and upset, but it’s because you two care for each other so much—it’s so clear to see. But that doesn’t mean you're desperate, Asami.”

After hearing Opal’s speech, Asami couldn’t hold it back anymore. Slowly, the tears began to emit themselves from her eyes as her body began shaking. Her friends made their ways over to her and suffocated her in a soft, giant hug.

Asami contemplated all her friends’ words as they held her, and she realized she knew one thing for sure: even though Korra irritated her and broke her, she couldn’t regret falling so hard for and letting the girl become so important to her.

And she supposed that’s all that could matter at this point.

###### 

“I want to start over.”

It was a Sunday night and Korra was over at Asami’s, as per usual. The girls had gotten into the habit of seeing each other every day for different reasons. Sunday’s were movie nights at Asami’s, just the two of them. And they were Korra’s favorite night of the week.

She peeked up over the back of the couch and met the determined peridot eyes waiting for her. Her eyebrows furrowed at the out-of-the-blue comment from her best friend.

“You what?” Korra finally asked, not sure if she heard Asami right. What did she want to start over, they hadn’t even started the movie yet.

Asami held her eyes pointedly. “You and me,” she stated firmly. “I want to start over.” Her eyes were tinted with the slightest bit of sadness that made Korra’s stomach clench.

Her mouth became dry, as it was hanging open in confusion. She stared at the pale-skinned girl for what felt like years before she could respond. “What?” she finally inquired again, still unsure of what Asami meant. It had been a month since the motel incident, and Korra hadn’t so much as seen Kuvira in passing. Her number was blocked on her phone, and she spent all her new free time with Asami--whose friendship had become much less strained. But they both knew there was still a divide between them. Even then, Korra was much happier and content than she had been.

Asami, however, wasn’t waiting for Korra to catch up to her idea. She quickly moved around to the couch and sat across from Korra, planting a smile on her face and hold out her hand. “Hi,” she chirped, ignoring the tribal girl’s questioning look. “My name’s Asami. I’m majoring in mechanical and financial engineering. My dad owns Future Industries.” She pushed her hand forward a little so Korra would shake it, keeping her light expression, but the girl just stared at her.

Finally, Korra blinked back to reality. “Asami?” she asked, wondering what brought on the super upbeat introduction and insistence upon it.

“What are we right now, Korra?” Asami asked desperately, quickly shattering her positive air with a melancholy and serious face. Korra was taken aback by the question.

She shook her head, confused. “I- I don’t know,” she admitted. She had been too scared to broach the subject with the engineer ever since that night. The likelihood of her screwing things up more than she already had was too high; she prefered to stay safe and let Asami approach their feelings if she felt up to it.

“Exactly,” Asami stated, her sad eyes boring into Korra’s. “We were ‘I don’t know’ for months because of Kuvira,” she began, ignoring Korra’s flinch at the statement, “and now we’re ‘I don’t know’ because I’m too angry at you, so let’s just start over.” She let the lighter tone slip back into her voice at the end of her explanation, though it seemed to pain her to do so. Like she was trying so hard to believe there was an easy fix to this. To them.

Korra hesitated for a long while, knowing Asami needed her to be the one to bring them back to reality. She swallowed thickly wishing she didn’t have to be the voice of reason on this one. “I don’t think we can just-”

“I’m tired of being mad at you,” Asami cut her off, finally allowing all her sadness seep into her voice. Her eyes fell down to her hands as she said the words that broke Korra’s heart. “But I can’t forgive you either,” she admitted. “And I’m just _tired_ , Korra.” Her eyes flicked up to the ones watching her sadly, pleading to just go along with it.

But Korra averted her eyes and shook her head. She sighed, and looked back up at Asami. “Maybe we should just talk instead?” she suggested, not wanting to talk at all, but knowing they needed to. They’ve needed to for awhile.

Asami blinked, gritting her teeth. “Oh, so now you want to talk?” she asked patronizingly.

Upset at Asami’s tone, Korra couldn’t help but respond a little more desperately than she planned. “Yes! Please, Sami,” she begged, wishing it would be over with already and they could go back to leaning on each other, watching Moana, and forgetting about their problems.

“Fine,” Asami replied shortly, her anger breaking free. “You broke my heart. I know you knew I had feelings for you, and I know you reciprocated those feelings, and you purposefully stayed with Kuvira. You dragged me along in your horror show of a relationship, and you made me feel invisible and just so _worthless_ , Korra. And I’m angry. And lost. And you make me so helpless.” She wasn’t sure at what point she started, but by the end of her speech, there were tears marring her face. “Is this the talk you wanted?” she demanded, glaring at the girl across from her, who was now crying with her.

“No,” she responded. “But it’s the talk I expected.” Asami’s words hurt. Killed. But she accepted them. She deserved them. And she needed to do better by them.

Seeing Korra wasn’t trying to fight her or defend herself, Asami let out a sob. “Why couldn’t you just leave her?” she cried out, burying her tears in her hands, as Korra watched on powerless.

“I don’t know, I just-” she tried to explain, her throat constricting as she said the words. “I didn’t want to be with you and let you down.” Even as she said them, she knew her words were a weak explanation. But they were truly the only ones she had. The more she had gotten to know Asami, the more she felt inadequate.

Taking her by surprise, however, Asami’s eyes shot up and glared at Korra, frustrated. “That’s not how relationships work, Korra!” she yelled, losing what semblance of composure she had remaining. “They’re not supposed to be perfect and flawless. They’re supposed to be worth it. Wasn’t I worth the chance?”

“You were worth everything, and I was terrified!” she blurted, not filtering her words through her mind first. Asami looked truly taken aback and stunned at the words, as her anger faltered, and Korra took a deep breath to compose herself. “I- I was trying to give you every chance to run,” she admitted, defeated. Her body deflated and she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees and her forehead in her hands. Spirits, she was an idiot for thinking maybe she hadn’t screwed this up beyond repair.

The moments ticked by in silence as both thought of anything to say. Asami fiddled with the hem of her shirt, unsure what to make of Korra’s newly disclosed information.

Finally, she sighed. “I don’t like running,” she stated, allowing a sad playful tone to accompany her words. “I told you that the second time we met. If we’re ever going to eventually function together, you have to become a better listener.” Her teasing voice coaxed Korra slightly out of her position, as she gave a small laugh. Her eyes still met Asami’s with wariness.

Pulled together by an unknown force, they both suddenly wrapped each other tightly in their arms as they once again began crying. Asami buried her face in Korra’s neck and tried to find comfort in the warmth. But instead she heard the tribal girl’s hoarse words in her ear.

“I’m so sorry, Sami,” she began apologizing again, words shaking with her body. The heiress merely clenched tighter to the girl. “I don’t and never will deserve you.”

“Stop saying that,” Asami commanded desperately. Until Korra believed she deserved her, Asami knew they would never get anywhere. Korra made some pretty shitty decisions that hurt Asami, but she could make it up to her. She could fix her mistakes. And Asami knew she was willing to. There was no one who deserved her more.

Letting out another shuddering sob, Korra didn’t respond directly to the girl’s instructions. Instead, she mumbled another “I’m sorry” and continued to hold on to her. They clutched to each other, forgetting the concept of time, and eventually both unconsciously communicated with each other, falling backwards softly. Arms remaining around each other, their tears thinned out as the clung to the person laying beside them.

Asami slowly began to drift off, her breathing pattern beginning to sync with Korra’s, her mind unintentionally counting how many times Korra’s heart beat against her. She was pulled from dozing off by the girl taking a deep breath, however.

“Hi,” she started off shakily. “My name is Korra. I’m majoring in Environmental Science, and I’m unofficial royalty.” She offered the introduction as a peace treaty, hoping it would be a start to their new beginning.

“I love you,” Asami murmured solemnly. She felt Korra’s body stiffen under her as she sputtered for words.

“Th-that’s a little forward for someone you’ve just met,” she countered, trying to be lighthearted, but failing and coming across as strained. Her eyes peered down at Asami wildly, wondering if she had even heard her right.

But Asami merely met her eyes calmly. “You broke my heart; I’m so mad at you, I can hardly breathe; and I still love you,” she explained sorrowfully. “We can’t start over.” She seemed dejected as she finally admitted the words to herself.

Korra gritted her teeth and stared longingly at the girl she held in her arms. Sighing, she tightened her grip. “I love you too,” she responded, feeling the need to tell the girl how she felt as well. That she was right: her feelings had been reciprocated the whole time.

Asami’s eyes met hers worriedly. “I- I can’t,” she tried to explain without hurting Korra, but protecting her feelings. “Be with you like that right now. I just… can’t,” she clarified, averting her eyes. After all this, and she still couldn’t find it in herself. She was closer, but just… not yet.

She felt a soft hand slowly stroking her cheek, and she looked up in surprised to find Korra staring at her wistfully. The expression melted the engineer’s insides. “You waited all that time for me,” Korra stated simply. “What makes you think I’m not willing to do the same for you? I’ll wait light years if I have to for you, Asami Sato.”

With a grateful cry, Asami buried her head back into Korra’s neck.

And how great of a feeling it was to finally be certain this presence beside her would never leave.

###### 

Asami gazed in amazement around Korra’s room. “Spirits, how did you fit so much into such a small place?” she asked incredulously, as her friend continued to pull more clothes and belongings out of her drawers.

Korra huffed in annoyance. “Just put the t-shirts in that box, okay?” she requested, trying to keep as civil as a tone as possible, but it was clear she was getting stressed. She definitely should have packed her stuff up before the last possible day.

The heiress acquiesced to the order with a smirk, remembering how she suggested a week ago that this process should have been started. Silently, the shirts were packed neatly into the box, and Asami was hit with a sudden bout of nostalgia.

“Can you believe it’s the end of the year?” she asked with a bittersweet tone. Her hands mechanically continued going through the motions of packing, but suddenly she was distracted. At the beginning of this year, she hadn’t known Korra. Everything seemed to happen so fast, and now she had to part ways with her best friend. She stopped what she was doing when she noticed Korra standing next to her, frowning slightly.

Korra shifted her weight uncomfortably. “You’ll visit, right?” she asked quietly. “You won’t disappear until next year?” Her voice was filled with a sad longing that overwhelmed Asami.

“Well, of course,” she responded, packing the shirt she had in her hand, so as not to give away her somber expression that was paired with her cheery voice. “But warning: I’m only using you as an excuse to finally see the Southern Tribe,” she continued playfully with a smirk. But this time she couldn’t hide the sadness in her eyes as they met Korra’s.

The tribal girl half-heartedly met her joke with a smile, but soon became serious again, taking in Asami for what could be the last time for months. And like always, she was in awe of the beautiful, stubborn genius who had single handedly changed her life in the past year. Her mind ran through everything the two of them had been through, and the memories overwhelmed her, in a good way.

It was an unconscious move, but suddenly Korra found herself desperately pressing her lips to Asami’s. Both girls stiffened at the contact, but neither made an effort to move away. Slowly beginning to register what she had done, Korra was on the verge of panicking and pulling away when Asami’s hands tightly gripped her hips and pulled her closer.

And then Korra was undone.

Her fingers weaved through the long black hair that so often taunted her. She took in every sense and feeling of being kissed by Asami Sato: her cherry blossom scent, her soft skin, her sweet taste. Korra clenched her eyes shut, wanting to remember this moment--this feeling of these exact warm lips pressed hungrily to hers--for the rest of her life. It was everything she had hoped it to be and more. Everything the two of them had been through the past year was worth this moment alone.

Slowly, they detached themselves from one another, both staring at each other with glazed over expressions. Korra’s mouth felt dry as her brain finally allowed her to registered what she had just done.

She nervously threw her hand to the back of her neck uncomfortably, and averted her eye contact. “I- I’m sorry,” she stammered. She had promised herself she would wait until Asami was ready, and she mentally kicked herself for not doing so. “I just wanted to do that once before we left and-”

“I forgive you, Korra,” Asami stated seriously, cutting off the girl’s rambling. “For everything.” Peridot eyes held the cyan ones, unwavering. Korra was silent for a long time, trying to process the implications of what was just said.

Eventually, she responded. “You don’t have to because of the kiss,” she stated, afraid she had rushed Asami into her decision. But to her relief, the engineer shook her head solemnly, with a small smile.

“I decided two weeks ago,” she confided quietly, slightly ashamed she had waited this long to inform Korra. “I was going to tell you today, so we could come back to a fresh start next year,” she explained, hoping she didn’t anger the girl.

But Korra seemed far from angry. She stared at Asami in disbelief for a long while. “So… if I asked you on a date?” she inquired, becoming slightly hopeful.

Smirking at the innocence of the question, Asami’s eyes warmed. “I would say yes,” she confirmed, unable to help the grin that spread across her face as Korra’s eyes lit up.

Jumping excitedly, Korra took Asami’s hands in hers, causing Asami’s stomach to flip flop, as she knew what was coming. “Asami Sato,” the tan-skinned girl began seriously, helpless from stopping the eagerness from entering her voice, “will you go on a date with me?” She bit her lip in anticipation of the response she’d waited so long to hear.

The decision came automatically. “Yes, of course.”

Immediately, the hands squeezed tighter as they yanked the heiress out of the room. Asami’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she allowed herself to be dragged out of the apartment. “Korra, what are we doing?” she called out as they began running across campus.

“We’re going on a date!”

Asami’s stomach dropped as she realized Korra was giving her little to no time to prepare. She’d been head over heels for this girl for almost six months now, and she thought she would have the summer to mentally ready herself to be in a relationship with her.

“Your parents arrive in three hours, and you haven’t finished packing,” Asami protested, suddenly feeling overwhelmed. But Korra stopped abruptly and turned to gaze at her with wide, shining eyes.

“This is more important,” she promised, gently beginning to walk backwards and lead Asami forwards. The look in her eyes was enough to make the engineer’s skin crawl, as she reluctantly allowed herself to be led, gradually ridding herself of the fear she owned towards this date. “They say if you stand on the RCU seal and kiss, your relationship will last the summer.” Korra murmured the words, never breaking eye contact, and stopping pointedly on top of the seal.

Raising her eyebrows, Asami gave her an amused look. “So you’re superstitious?” she observed with a smirk.

Shooting her a mischievous grin, Korra shrugged. “That and I want to kiss you in public before I leave,” she admitted bashfully, her plot being uncovered.

Asami shook her head and laughed at the admittance. Leave it to Korra, she thought. But she wasn’t one to disappoint simple requests.

Initiating the kiss this time, Asami leaned downwards and pressed her lips softly against the lips she would find herself craving for the rest of the summer. Korra’s arms wrapped tightly around her, as if she was going to forcibly drag her back to the Southern Tribe with her.

When they removed themselves from each other gently, Asami subconsciously raised a hand to push back a strand of Korra’s hair.

“I’ll see you in a few weeks,” she murmured, fingers grazing her lover’s cheek lightly.

“I’ll be waiting.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, please please let me know. Leave kudos and comments and such <3
> 
> And if you're interested in seeing a sequel one shot, I'm highly considering it and would love your input!


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